Teaching Children about Money with The Moonjar

Within the thread in my article “Teaching Kids about Money“, a representative from Moonjar left a comment regarding their Moonjar product for children. As I have a little bambino crawling around the house, I emailed the rep with a few questions and they offered to send me a sample product for me (and the little one) to try.

What is The Moonjar?

It’s a new-age piggy bank that allows children to separate and store their money into 3 categories; spending, savings, and sharing. They offer two different Moonjar products, the classic and the standard moneybox. The classic moneybox is the stronger version as it is made from hard plastic and tin. The standard version is made completely of paper.

What Samples Did We Get?

I received the package indicated in the picture above. That is,

The Classic Moonjar (tin base, plastic top)

The Standard Moonjar (paper)

The Children Storybook that explains “How the Moonjar was Made.”

Where to Buy?

Final Thoughts

I think that the concept is a great idea that can help teach kids about money. It helps reinforce that money is not only for spending, but should also be used for saving and sharing. I’m looking forward to using my Moonjar to help teach my little one about saving, spending and sharing.

Although the price of the Moonjars are a bit on the high side (IMO), I personally prefer the Classic Moonjar as it’s made of tin thus more resilient than the paper version. If you’re interested in doing more research, check out their site along with their testimonials.

What do you think about children products like this?

Stay tuned for tomorrow’s post.. there may be a giveaway. :)

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About the author: FT is the founder and editor of Million Dollar Journey (est. 2006). Through various financial strategies outlined on this site, he grew his net worth from $200,000 in 2006 to $1,000,000 by 2014. You can read more about him here.

Looks interesting. Anything that encourages kids to learn about good financial practices at an early age sounds good to me. A lot of parents could probably learn a thing or two as well!

What’s the storybook like? It looks pretty out there to me (or “new age-y”). Will the book turn my kids into moon worshipping, lotus loving hippies? Is there a portion of the moonjar dedicated to saving for a trip to BC to live in a commune? :)

It’s interesting that this topic is being covered the same day that the Canadian Capatalist’s review of my book “The 4 Little Pigs” (a financial values book for children) is out. The book is non-fiction based on what my son Caleb did with 4 piggy banks named Spending (pocked money), Saving (for a bigger purchase), Sharing (to be used to help others) and Schooling (savings for post-secondary education) and a weekly allowance divided between them. The book has recently won a Moonbeam Children’s Book award in the non-fiction picture book category. After much demand we will be adding the 4 piggy banks for purchase on our website along with the book next week. The book is bright, colourful and fun and my kids love their 4 little piggy banks. For more information on our story you can visit our website at http://www.fourpiggies.com

I’m with Al on this one. It’s the kind of product that makes me immediately think of copying the idea at home. Simple to do, saves money (i.e., the whole point), and the kids can decorate their own divided piggy banks themselves. The book is necessary to make the divided piggy bank seem special enough that people wouldn’t just make their own. Except that making one’s own is special.

These kinds of products seem like the fruit of good thinking about how to engage kids about money. I just hope no one thinks they’re a substitute for including kids in the real family conversation about money–where it comes from and where it goes. Like many others, I imagine, I grew up in a household where money was never discussed. I had an allowance and was responsible for managing it, but I had precious little guidance in doing so. I never did–and still don’t–understand why the subject was so hush-hush. Kids learn through imitation and (limited, guided) participation.

I’ve often wondered why banks don’t offer a similar product. That is, why not allow the consumer to set some percentage values and then for every deposit the money is allocated to the main account and the attached savings account. Everyone talks about how good a strategy is, why don’t the banks support it? Or do they?

Brad Davis,
Banks do. It’s called a ‘savings account’, and the other side of the equation, which you maintain is called a ‘ledger’. This is where you truly have the opportunity to teach your children about budgeting. The Moonjar allows them to understand different segments in one bank, and you the parent, get to explore the idea of budgeting a large amount into smaller expenditures with your children.

Credit Unions often have programs directed towards children that are more sophisticated than bank programs. You might want to have a look.

We all should learn this financial exercise, so we can appropriately apply it. However, many don’t, and the success of Mvelopes the envelope method of budgeting, would seem to indicate that many are still focused on little pots of money, rather than a stream with many tributaries.